3 reasons why I love Welkoop so much
Shopping? Not my thing. I only enjoy wandering around the city if I’m heading toward a tapas bar, and even doing the grocery shopping at the supermarket is usually no fun for me. But at this store, my ears perk up and my eyes light up. Let me explain: these are the three reasons why I love Welkoop.
Is it a garden centre? Is it a pet shop? Neither, but sort of both. At Welkoop, you can get bales of straw and huge bags of horse feed (if you have horses, otherwise they’ll just get in the way at home), as well as seeds, wheelbarrows and clogs. Nice and practical, I love it, but even for people without chickens, green fingers or the irresistible urge to sit on a gigantic yellow lawnmower and go toot-toot (random example), Welkoop is a fantastic store.
1. Barbecue supplies
The seasoned barbecue enthusiast will split their sides laughing at those aluminium BBQs you buy at a garden centre. So wafer-thin and wobbly, you really can’t put a tomahawk on one. And those candy colours – a pink kettle barbecue, or perhaps mint green? – aren’t to be taken seriously either. No, this is the store for tough guys. Grates, big wire brushes, outdoor kitchens that could survive a snowstorm – they have it all. This weekend I even saw cast-iron frying pans, at a fraction of what you’d pay for them at a serious cookware shop. I’ll take one!
2. Vegetable garden supplies
Getting your own gnarled hands dirty in the earth, pulling homegrown beetroot and celeriac from the ground – now that’s what I call tough. This is the right place for you. A long row of seed packets, plus shelves full of spades, rakes, watering cans, seed trays, rooting powder and all sorts of other things you didn’t know you needed because you didn’t know what they were. Tip for beginners: you can also buy the seed packets, chuck them in the kitchen’s junk drawer and gaze at them dreamily every now and then.
3. Regional products
By the checkout there’s a bookcase filled with honey from a local beekeeper, liquorice in a brown paper bag (sadly, not the Best Liquorice Ever) and jam, muesli, herb mixes and sauces. Nice little gift, you think, while hoping the shopping basket is full again. But in the car, you open the first bag of old-fashioned Dutch sweets. Nothing to be ashamed of – we all do it.
I don’t own any shares; Welkoop is honestly and unsponsoredly my favourite store of this entire coronavirus pandemic. And the fact that they also sell my chickens’ favourite feed is really beside the point.
Read also:
- Oh dear! Almost no fish shop provides the right information about fish
- Supermarkets: you really can’t do this
- You’ll be shocked: your tomato is a mini vegetable garden
